Provenance Reference

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A Provenance Reference associates information with applicable Provenance without copying the complete Provenance information into every information structure.

A Provenance Reference contains or uses sufficient information to identify and, when applicable, resolve the referenced Provenance information. This information may include:

• A Provenance Record Identifier
• The identifier scheme
• The assigning authority
• A version
• A repository or service reference
• Resolution information
• An integrity value

The applicable Information Structure Definition determines which information the Provenance Reference requires.

A Provenance Reference remains distinct from Provenance. Provenance describes the entities, activities, Actors, sources, transformations, and relationships associated with the origin or processing history of information. A Provenance Reference associates another information structure with that Provenance.

A Provenance Reference also remains distinct from an Evidence Reference. A Provenance Reference identifies information about origin and processing history. An Evidence Reference identifies Evidence supporting a claim.

The same record may contribute to both Provenance and Evidence when the applicable model explicitly assigns both functions.

reference that identifies and permits association with Provenance applicable to a specified subject

Adapted from:

• W3C PROV-O: The PROV Ontology

  • Relevant concepts: Entity, Activity, Agent, derivation, generation, attribution, and association
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• W3C PROV-DM: The PROV Data Model

  • Relevant concepts: Provenance Description, Entity, Activity, Agent, and Identifier
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• OMG Commons Identifiers Ontology

  • Relevant concepts and relationships: Identifier, identifies, and is identified by
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08

This corpus defines the expression Provenance Reference. The referenced sources provide the underlying Provenance and Identifier concepts but do not define a concept having this exact name.

• A Provenance Reference identifies or resolves to applicable Provenance
• A Provenance Reference is not the Provenance it references
• More than one information structure may reference the same Provenance
• One information structure may have more than one Provenance Reference
• A Provenance Reference does not independently establish the truth or validity of the referenced Provenance
• A Provenance Reference may include version and integrity information
• A Provenance Reference does not replace an Evidence Reference
• The platform-independent definition does not require a URI, database key, object pointer, DDS key, or programming-language reference

A system derives a Valuation from market observations and an FX Contract.

The Valuation contains a Provenance Reference identifying the Provenance record that describes:

• The source market observations
• The Contract state used
• The valuation method
• The processing activity
• The responsible system
• The processing time

The Valuation does not need to duplicate the complete Provenance record.